The Unexpected Break

By Tiana T., Morehead City, NC

Sizzle, splash, my family and I were having the best time at our cookout. It was a sticky humid day in July of 2006. There was the grill, a pool, and plenty of toys like hula hoops, fulfilling my Grandmother’s backyard. It was such a beautiful day; you could hear the birds chirping their songs. The bright sun was shining and you could see 1,000 miles through the clear sky. No one, especially myself was expecting what was going to happen this day.

Sizzle sizzle, the hot dogs and hamburgers were cooking on the hot fiery grill. The food smelled so delicious, you could taste it. As us children waited for the food to be finished, we splashed into the pool. “Hey Tiana, watch this trick!” my cousin A.J. yelled out to me. As he says this, A.J. jumps into the pool with the biggest cannon ball ever! Some of the younger kids, that couldn’t swim, were running around with wagons and trying their hardest to blow the biggest bubble ever. My uncle was cooking, as well as talking about football with the rest of the men. All of the women were gossiping about their child or children and how they act. “Aaron is just the cutest thing, his teacher tells me that he is doing well in kindergarten,” my Aunt Mary says. “Well Tiana tried out for cheerleading and made the squad! Now she cheers for her school!” My mother brags about. After everyone finished their hot dogs, hamburgers, chips, and drinks our parents told us we couldn’t get back into the pool until another twenty minutes passed by. “Oh ma, come on we’re not going to get cramps, just let us swim,” I yell.

“Yeah aunt Misti we have nothing better to do,” Aaron whines.

“Well your not getting into the pool whether you like it or not,” my mother scolds. Since we had nothing to do, we finally made up some relay races for anyone that wanted to play. We made all types of things. The relay races included sacks, wagons, and hula hoops. The races were exciting and fun. All the kids were involved, the older, younger, and all in between. This may be surprising, but even some of the moms, dads, and other grown ups were involved in the relay racing. They mostly helped the younger kids beat the older ones.

As one of the races we saw who could hula hoop the longest. Another race was sack racing-the makeup for the younger kids was a blowing bubbles contest. The tie breaker for the two teams was a pretty interesting race. What you had to do was hula hoop to one end of the yard and then cartwheel-or at least try to cartwheel- back to the other end of the backyard.

In my mind I thought about how there were only two people in front of me. With my hands on my knees, I bent over to get ready to hula hoop. Before I start to take off, my aunt Mary yells, “Hey Tiana, you better be careful out there, everyone knows you’re a klutz.” It was finally my turn, I snatched the hula hoop from my brother, Bubba, and quickly start to hula hoop to the other side of the backyard. It seems like it took me forever to get across to the other side of the yard. When I finally got to the other side, I dropped the hula hoop, and without my notice it starts to roll. I do my first cartwheel, perfect. As I start doing my second cartwheel the hula hoop rolls under me. Then, when I landed the cartwheel, it just so happened I landed on the hula hoop. My foot rolled and I landed on the side of it. At first I thought I was fine. I got in the pool and I couldn’t even swim! So my mother took me to the hospital.

After we left the hospital, we got the news that Tiana Taylor broke her foot. I had to wear a cast for a long time, and not to mention using crutches. By not watching my surroundings I had to miss a lot of the things I loved to do. Dancing, cheering, and physical education were things I had to miss out on. So, if I were you I’d watch what you were doing every now and then so you will not have to go through the pain and bordness I had to go through for about four or five months.

Subscribe

Get Teen Ink’s 48-page monthly print edition. Written by teens since 1989.